We got one -- just one, swiftly passed -- that was turquoise this year, on the first[1]; I really wonder what was in that one. It was a brilliant clear turquoise, and I have no idea what burns that colour.

I recognize pretty much everything else in your description, only perhaps not quite so many. :)

I'm fairly sure the cloud-of-fireflies effect is produced by making the lights part of slow burning small rockets, a technology first developed for 'base bleed' range extension in artillery shells, where the idea is to fill the space behind the shell to avoid turbulence, rather than to actually push any.

[1] 'this year' is otherwise ambiguous between July 1, Canada Day, and May 24, Victoria Day, both of which occasions being traditionally marked with fireworks. The Victoria Day fireworks are often better.

I didn't see any fireworks on the 4th (I was busy, and the East River ones aren't really visible from Hoboken), but the Sunday before there was a comparatively minor, but still sufficiently spectacular, fireworks display for Pride Day. That one was on the Hudson, and extremely visible from Hoboken.

The people at the Pier Dance must have been coated with ash.

One color you didn't mention, Teresa, was lavender. Lavender fireworks were abundantly presend on Pride Day, for obvious reasons, and one that might not be: Heritage of Pride, the group that sponsors (or sponsored at the time) the March & Parade as well as the Pier Dance, commissioned the invention of lavender fireworks some years back.

The last time I saw anything as fun was as a teen back in the '60s when my dad worked on the 20-somethingth floor of an office building overlooking Oakland's Lake Merritt, and we got to watch the fireworks burst right at eye-level, with reflections in the water. I'd *almost* forgotten how great that was, but this 4th I was back under the spell.

Alas, it being San Francisco, it was foggy. The mortars popped the shells high enough up that they exploded *in the fog layer*, producing interesting fuzzy pastel bursts. On a few occasions, half the burst was in the fog, half out. Ah well...

This Fourth, I went across the river to Vancouver WA, for "the largest fireworks show in the West." Perhaps in length and volume, but the designated viewing spots were awfully far away. I like being close enough to feel the concussion of those big flash-bangs rattle my chest.

Thanks for invoking the memory!